Turn what you already know into college credit

By: The Capella University Editorial Team

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Picture this scenario.

A degree can help move your career forward. But you’ve also spent years building real expertise, developing skills you use every day and earning certifications that are recognized in your field. Wouldn’t it be great if your professional knowledge and certifications counted toward your degree, helping you graduate quicker and at a lower cost?

You don’t have to imagine it – in select undergraduate and master’s programs, credit for prior learning allows you to earn credit for relevant college-level knowledge gained outside of a traditional classroom. At Capella University, that could mean credit for:

• Professional certifications
• Formal and informal work training
• Continuing education
• Self-instruction
• Military training
• Other learning experiences
   

Capella’s process is designed around the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) Standards, the national benchmark for assessing learning experience.

The effect could be straightforward if you quality: potentially fewer courses to take, tuition savings and a shorter path to the degree.

Why it matters

Roughly 37.6 million working-age adults in the U.S. have started college without finishing, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s 2025 Some College, No Credential report. Many of them may have spent the intervening years becoming genuinely expert at something.

The research on what happens when that expertise is recognized is encouraging. A 2020 study by CAEL and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), covering more than 465,000 students across 72 institutions, found that adult students who earned credit for prior learning – also called prior learning assessments (PLA) – were 22% more likely to complete a credential; 49% of PLA students finished, compared with 27% of those who did not earn PLA.

CAEL also estimates that 9 out of 10 students miss out on credit for what they have already learned.

How credit for prior learning works

To recognize what you’ve already accomplished, Capella offers the following ways to earn credit for certifications and previous learning.

1. Earn credit using recognized certifications

Capella faculty have evaluated a range of industry-standard certifications and aligned them to specific programs and course competencies.

Because you’ve already demonstrated your knowledge by earning your certification, all you need to do is submit the required documentation verifying your current professional certification.

Once approved, credit for the associated course or courses is posted toward your record, fulfilling specific course requirements in your program and helping you save money in the process.

Here are a few examples of certifications that Capella recognizes:

This is not a complete list. Capella recognizes certifications across business, IT, and human resource management. Talk to an enrollment specialist to find out whether your certification has been evaluated.

2. The petition process

Not all expertise comes with a certificate. For programs offered in Capella’s GuidedPath learning format, if you are already familiar with an area covered by a Capella course, you may be able to petition for credit by demonstrating your knowledge.

• Review your program’s courses and find the ones that overlap what you already know.
• Sign up for the free lab, staffed by experts who can help you put your petition together and answer questions along the way.
• Connect with the credit for prior learning team to get started on your petition
• Use the provided template to build your petition – a written description of how you mastered the course’s concepts and how you apply that knowledge – and gather relevant supporting documentation.
• Submit your petition for review by a Capella faculty expert in that subject, who determines whether credit is awarded or may suggest you add detail or rewrite a particular section and resubmit.

A useful test: when you look at your curriculum, does a course jump out as something you have a deep understanding of already? That’s usually one worth petitioning.

The petition process is not available for FlexPath students.

How credit for prior learning works for FlexPath and GuidedPath

Capella offers two learning formats, and they treat credit for prior learning differently. FlexPath, (available in select programs) a non-term based, direct assessment model and GuidedPath, (available in all programs) a quarter-based, structured option.  

If you’re exploring a program in the FlexPath learning format, any prior learning certifications must be completed before the start date of your first FlexPath course. Certifications must be submitted within 12 weeks of starting your first FlexPath course, and students in FlexPath may not gain credit by petition during enrollment.

In GuidedPath, you can submit your certification documentation or credit petitions any time after you’re admitted to Capella.

If you’re weighing the two formats and you hold certifications or significant unrecognized expertise, bring up questions with an enrollment specialist early.

How to get started

Start by taking inventory. List your certifications with their effective dates, any employer or military training you completed, continuing education and other learning experience that could be eligible. Then talk to an enrollment specialist – before you register, if you can. They can tell you which of your credentials Capella has already evaluated, how much in potential savings they could apply toward, and whether your learning format supports the petition route.